Norman Adoption Blog

Our interview yesterday was a piece of cake. We only had to wait over an hour for the other group of 4-5 families to go before us. But we had the beloved Joyce interview us this time instead of Greg. The other families found Joyce to be compassionate and very willing to cooperate. I wish I could say the same, but we didn’t stay in there long enough to find out. She was a nice woman, but we barely stayed in the room it seemed but 10 minutes. She asked Patrick to swear, raising his right hand, that all the information in our file was correct to his knowledge. Then she asked what date we turned in the dossier. Patrick got confused by this (I wondered if he was nervous…but he said he thought she was asking about Hannah’s dossier). She asked how long we have been in Vietnam and what we thought of the process overall. That was basically it. She said our visa will be ready for pick up on Monday. The computer in Washington that scans the kids facial features to check for child trafficking has been on the fritz. That shouldn’t be a problem for us though, we hope at least.

Thankfully Rob and Sondra were able to find a flight out of here around midnight last night on Korean Air. It was a last minute thing, but Mr. Dat had their visa in hand and all the necessary paperwork, so they were home free. This means they will be able to meet with their doctor for Ella at the beginning of the week!

At this point, Patrick and I are going to be leaving at our regular time Tuesday evening. We get the visa Monday and will be ready to leave the next day. Charmin and Jim are going leaving the day after on their scheduled flights as well. Patrick bumped our seats from coach to business class so we would have more room and a guaranteed bassinet on the long flight. They will also provide as much bottle water we need for formula and may even clean our bottles for us. I was skeptical at first about paying more for these seats, but now that we have them I am excited we can get home (hopefully) well rested.

Unfortunately we never got to take Rob and Sondra to the chocolate buffet to experience a little taste of heaven. So, our plan is to go again today in their behalf, sort of as a celebration of the end of all of our journeys here. Last night Charmin, Jim, Paul and Patrick and I went to Ami, the wonderful restaurant next to our hotel. We went their once before and enjoyed dinner so much we wanted to introduce it to Paul; although we strategically went earlier this time, seeing how Hannah tends to explode with emotion too close to her bed time. The dinner last night was great…and a little entertaining. Paul ordered the small chicken which was fried and very tasty (according to Paul and Jim). But after seeing the chicken claw, Patrick and I politely refused a bite. ;o)

One reason we are seriously ready to be home is because of the lack of sleep we have been experiencing lately. You may think: well, the baby is coming with you, right? Hannah has her schedule down pretty well. She wakes once in the middle of the night, then around 4-5 and sleeps until 7 or later. Not so bad, especially since we take turns with the feedings. But what we can’t stand is how loud this hotel seems to get after 10:00 in the evening. It wasn’t this bad during the first part of our stay, maybe because we weren’t waking in the middle of the night and trying to go back to sleep. But two nights ago we had a couple of guys watching football and drinking beers in the room above us: banging furniture around and dropping things. That probably went on until about 2. Last night either the staff kept coming in and out of rooms, going up and down the elevators or there was restless crowd in the hotel. At 3 Hannah woke and we heard it. She woke again at 4:30 and still the doors were being slammed. Last night was the first time it really annoyed Charmin and Jim even, two floors below us. This hotel has been great this whole time. They have wonderful service, an amazing staff that is very attentive to our needs, room service, free breakfast, a daily laundry service, clean rooms… But night times are the worst!

Good thing is, we only have to stay here 3 more nights…